My Mid Life Crisis Pickup

Old School Said: 100 K a year is about 2 K a week. @ 60 mph average, that works out to about 33 hours a week driving. Holy smokes, I would just work closer to home. That no life at all if you have to work on top of that!

RE: the oil changes, by using Conklin oils, you could bump that up to about 20,000 miles and just change the filter every 5,000 miles. If you dont believe it, you could just send the oil in for testing. why throw out good oil? One of the over the road truckers uses Conklin oils and lubs in his truck, and he has over 1,250,000 miles on one oil change. They change filters every 30,000 miles and send in a sample to be tested. They used to do it every 15K but the lab told them they were wasting their money! It gets better fuel mileage too! They have to add 2 quarts of oil to make up the difference of the new filter every time they change the filter.

Average 60 mph, in Texas? Pffttt. lol Speed limit is 75 virtually the whole way, and I drive 78-79. Course rush hour traffic once in Dallas can drop the average a bunch.

It is true, I drive too much. I have many 16-18 hour days. It's all I know. That said, sailing down Interstate-20 with satellite radio isn't a bad day.

As for oil change intervals, we get blinding dust storms around here and I change my oil and filters after driving in each one, regardless of miles.

Also, I try to do business with those who do business with us. We're installing a new foam roof on a Valvoline Express Car Care place and so I'll be getting my oil changed there now.

My old 1990 chev 2500 just passed 363,000. If it ever died I would have a Mid Life Crisis. Might have to get a new seat as the metal springs are showing through the foam on the drivers side.

My oldest vehicle is a 93 International flatbed. It has the 7.3, naturally aspirated. It was the last year before the Power Stroke. International lacked the marketing dept to come up with a nifty name like Power Stroke, so they differentiated the two engines by changing the name of the displacement, going from liters (7.3) to cubic inches (444).

The engine has been very reliable over the 20 years I've owned it if you're running it at least twice a week. If it's below 20 degrees it needs to be started and warmed up every day. Otherwise starting can be a bear. It also requires that you follow the recommended starting ritual exactly.

I don't like the "automatic glow plug cycle". I much prefer the old style where you pushed a button or held the ignition in position until the plug on your dash glowed like a cigarette lighter. Every diesel I've owned with that system started easier than those with the automatic system.

RG- Do you pay yourself for travel time?